Cleveland is the best team in the NBA.

Brooklyn came up one endgame run short of being the best team on the floor. 

The Nets, who have turned blowing late leads into an art, did it again Tuesday night.

They threw away a fourth-quarter cushion and fell 109-104 to the Cavaliers before a sellout crowd of 19,432 in Cleveland. 

Brooklyn led by 18 points in the third quarter and by eight early in the fourth.

Day’Ron Sharpe looks to make a move on Dean Wade during the Nets’ 109-104 loss to the Cavaliers on March 11, 2025.
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

But they allowed a 23-8 Cleveland run down the stretch that cost them the game. 

It was a league-worst sixth time the Nets (22-43) have blown a 17-point lead in a loss, the third time in the past four games.

They moved into a tie with Toronto for fifth place in the lottery standings, and a half-game ahead of the seventh-place 76ers. 

The Cavs (55-10) won their team-record 15th straight and clinched the Central Division title with the win. 

Cam Thomas led the Nets with 27 points.

Cam Johnson added 17 and was involved in the pivotal play that cost them. 

Down 101-99, Johnson felt he got fouled on a missed 3-point attempt, and the Nets got caught napping on the ensuing inbound for a Darius Garland layup that essentially iced it with 51 seconds left. 

Cam Thomas looks to make a move on Darius Garland during the Nets’ loss to the Cavaliers. David Richard-Imagn Images

“He smacked my arm on the blow by,” Johnson said. “Frustrating. It’s been like that a long time, all year. It’s frustrating. I go by, I’m going up for my shot and he hit my arm. I don’t know what else they look at, I don’t know what the confusion or gray area is.” 

The Cavaliers didn’t have Donovan Mitchell. But they had Evan Mobley (21 points) and ex-Net Jarrett Allen (23 points, 13 boards). 

And most of all they had Garland, who scored 30 points. He had 18 in the fourth quarter on 7-for-10 shooting, while the Nets were just 6-for-18. 

Nets forward Cameron Johnson (2) looks to pass in the first quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena. David Richard-Imagn Images

Brooklyn led 71-53 with 9:23 left in the third after reeling off eight unanswered points.

But that’s when they suffered another endgame collapse. 

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They allowed a 19-8 run to see their cushion cut to 79-71.

The lead was still eight entering the fourth, but Brooklyn conceded a 23-8 blitz, down 98-94 after a Garland layup. 

The Nets had pulled back within two before the pivotal no-foul call on Johnson. 

Brooklyn Nets forward Cameron Johnson (2) drives against Cleveland Cavaliers forward Dean Wade (32) in the second half of an NBA basketball game. AP

“[The ref] said he just wasn’t looking, he didn’t see anything. I don’t know. I don’t understand that,” said Johnson, who went to talk to the officials again after the play. “I just felt like that was unacceptable.” 

It was a huge swing, the Nets going from potentially being up by a point to trailing by four, and they never recovered. 

Noah Clowney downplayed twisting his right ankle.

Noah Clowney of the Brooklyn Nets dribbles the ball during the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 11, 2025, at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio. NBAE via Getty Images

“I think it’ll be good. It wasn’t like my ankle injury before where I was up in the air and landed on somebody,” Clowney said. “Minor little tweak and I had tape on, so I think I should be fine.”

He’d missed six weeks earlier this season with a left ankle injury.